Choice for young talent

Former chairman Aat Klompenhouwer put his heart and soul into giving young talent the opportunity to develop and boost their careers wherever he could. Initiating the Young Singers Platform within the festival was his dream come true this autumn. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to witness its first edition. Shortly before his death in September, he gave this interview.

It is a conscious choice of the International Song Festival Zeist to re-programme the Young Singers Platform on 30 October: 'After the cancellation of the festival in May, we were very keen to make ourselves heard this year,' Aat Klompenhouwer begins, 'We could of course have done that by programming musicians we had to cancel earlier: Carolyn Sampson, Christoph Prégardien ... From a commercial point of view, that might have made more sense, because then you are more sure that the hall is full. But I felt it was important precisely now to give young people a chance to perform in Zeist and Oxford again next year. We really chose the young musicians. They need to be preserved for the future.'

young singers platform
'The Young Singers Platform is a brand new item in the festival, although I have had the idea for it for much longer,' he says. 'During the festival, we naturally invite renowned soloists, but we need to make sure that young people can also be heard. We are working on that with the masterclass, and we are now also making the next step possible by offering young musicians a stage. Surely it cannot be the intention to let the musicians go after the masterclass?'

'I see it as a task of the festival to make that stage a reality. The question of how to retain young people, some of whom have just come from the conservatory, for the art of song really worries me. True, they are also trained for song during their education, but after that, opera is soon more attractive. There is simply more to be earned there. And don't blame them! If you can offer them a stage to perform it, you might be able to persuade them to keep the song in their hearts.

'In the end, it all starts with getting young musicians involved through the masterclass, among other things. It is not for nothing that this is an essential part of the festival. And it is also interesting for the audience, because there, as a visitor, you can experience what singers and pianists have to do to achieve their performances. The Young Singers Platform goes a step further. Because after the master class, students go home, but have they managed to retain what they learned during the master class?'

why just now?
'For a start, I thought it would be a good move to put the festival even more on the map,' Aat thinks. 'Don't forget: in a short time we have been able to organise a very extensive festival. When we made our first plans five years ago, we initially thought about maybe a long weekend. Soon that grew into ideas for a bigger festival. If you then notice that things are going well, that there is interest from the public, that there is movement, then you want to continue to make it an even more complete whole. That undeniably includes a platform for young singers and pianists.'

'Next year, registration will be open, but for this first edition, we have invited all the duos who participated in the masterclass over the past four years. Having heard the six participating duos before, I am very much looking forward to listening to how they have grown and know how to present themselves now. Are they able to prepare programmes with which they manage to captivate listeners for twice three quarters of an hour?' Then Aat bursts out laughing: 'Even with great singers, I have sometimes thought after a short time: I've heard it all. While you can partly judge what qualities duos have by how the programme is put together. Do they take the most popular songs, for instance, or do they set to work with songs by more unknown composers?'

Mandatory work
'Look,' Aat continues, 'if you don't prescribe what should be sung, you run the risk of them all choosing Gretchen am Spinnrade, to name a few. That's the easiest way. To distinguish what a duo is capable of, you can also prescribe a compulsory work and in our case, that is also a brand new composition that we have commissioned. It will be very exciting to see how all the duos interpret the text and give shape to the music in their own way. During this audition, they can really prove themselves.'

'We can also only do this thanks to our own Fund Masterclass. The contributions of our patrons make it possible for us to realise both the Masterclass and the Young Singers Platform. I very much hope that if more people see what level these young musicians are of, we can also make others enthusiastic about contributing to the education of young singers and pianists.'